Eighth to first: Nahlous breaks through as ASBK’s summer era begins

2027 Australian Superbike Championship

Round One – Phillip Island – Superbike Race One

Jonathan Nahlous launched ASBK’s new summer era with his first Superbike victory, charging from eighth on the grid to win the opening race at Phillip Island. A few spots of rain made for a nervous opening on slick tyres, but the Yamaha Racing Team youngster soon took control of the 11-lap contest and resisted a mid-race challenge from Cam Dunker.

Dunker made it a Yamaha one-two, finishing three seconds behind Nahlous, while defending champion Harrison Voight recovered from a slow opening to claim third. Cru Halliday pushed him all the way for that final podium position, with Jack Favelle close behind after an audacious early spell at the front.

A new season and rival Ducati camps

Only four months have passed since the shortened 2026 championship concluded at Queensland Raceway. Voight finished that five-round campaign on 218 points to Josh Waters’ 208, although he had already clinched the title with a race to spare before sitting out the wet finale. Halliday took third in the championship, two points ahead of Dunker, followed by Allerton, Jones and Nahlous.

The biggest off-season change was the switch of Waters and crew chief Adrian Monti from McMartin Racing to Ben Henry’s DesmoSport Ducati squad, which we revealed in September. Waters is chasing a record-extending sixth title, while Voight continues with McMartin and crew chief Jamie Stauffer.

DesmoSport has its newer-generation V4 R built, but Waters began the weekend on the team’s rebuilt previous-generation Panigale while development of the newer machine continues. Ducati had also lost another 500rpm for the new campaign, although four V4 Rs in the first six qualifying positions suggested they remained plenty sharp enough for battle.

The weekend attracted 31 entries across six manufacturers, with Yamaha the most numerous on 15 and Ducati’s contingent growing from two on the first provisional list to five. That was an encouraging starting point after only 12 riders contested the wet final race of the previous season. Maintaining that depth through the standalone rounds will be the next test of the summer format.

Rain spots and an audacious move at Siberia

The race began under overcast skies with wet patches on the track, an air temperature of 17°C and a track temperature of 22°C. Twenty-eight riders started, with Richard Markham-Barrett and Reece Jamieson listed as non-starters.

Allerton took the inside line at turn one to lead the opening charge and held his advantage through Southern Loop despite Favelle’s advances. A few drops of rain began to fall on the slick-shod track, but that did little to discourage the Honda rider who showed no shortage of aggression and bravery.

Allerton and Favelle arrived at Siberia side by side, and Favelle went all the way around the outside to emerge ahead. It was a bold move in any conditions, let alone with rain spots adding another unknown to the opening lap.

Dunker and Nahlous also attacked Allerton through the second half of the opening lap. Favelle led across the line from Allerton, Nahlous and Dunker; those four were covered by just 0.087s. Allerton then answered the youngsters, putting in a mighty effort under brakes at turn one as they began lap two to take the lead again.

Nahlous led out of Southern Loop and through turn three, then ran a little deep at turn four, surrendered his advantage, but then recovered to lead again. By the second run through MG, Nahlous headed Dunker, Allerton and Favelle, with Halliday trying to join the fight.

Dunker closes, Nahlous responds

Nahlous took command during lap two and led every subsequent lap across the line. His advantage over Dunker was nine-tenths at the end of lap two, but the Blue Marlin Pools rider went quicker over the next two laps to slash that margin to just 0.046s as they began lap five.

By the end of lap three, Voight was sixth, 4.035s behind Nahlous and around two seconds adrift of the group ahead. Waters held seventh, followed by Lytras, Roulstone and Jones. The field was already extraordinarily spread out for a race only a few laps old.

Voight was finally building momentum. He caught Halliday and Allerton, put his elbows out on the way forward and completed lap five in fourth, 4.278s behind Nahlous with six laps remaining.

Up front, Nahlous responded to Dunker’s pressure with a 1m34.638 on lap five, besting Dunker’s 1m34.907. He then improved to 1m34.194 on lap six, while Dunker recorded 1m34.866, extending the lead to a full second.

Nahlous kept building his advantage through laps seven and eight, setting his best of 1m33.814 on the latter.  Dunker breached the gap at one point, but Nahlous responded to gain more than 2.5 seconds over the next four laps, leading by 2.683s at the end of lap eight.

Voight and Favelle started lap eight side by side across the stripe, and the defending champ then passed the Honda rider during lap eight to take third. Voight finished that lap over five seconds behind Nahlous, with Dunker in second and halfway between them.

Halliday attacks as traffic looms

Halliday then found another gear. His 1m33.779 on lap nine was the fastest lap of the race, just 0.035s quicker than Nahlous’ best. It pitched the Stop and Seal Ducati rider into the podium fight, though he still finished that lap fifth, 0.251s behind third-placed Voight and 0.165s behind Favelle.

Halliday passed both on lap ten to take third. As they started the final lap, Halliday led Voight by a nose with Favelle less than a bike length behind. The three podium contenders were within a tenth, while Nahlous led Dunker by more than three seconds. All of them still had considerable lapped traffic to negotiate before the flag.

Nahlous went on to claim his maiden Superbike victory in dominant fashion, with Dunker a clear second.

Voight got the better of Halliday among the traffic to secure the last step on the rostrum by 0.316s, while Favelle finished less than a quarter of a second behind Halliday. Third through fifth were covered by just over half a second.

Voight’s final lap of 1m34.650 was three-tenths quicker than Halliday’s 1m34.994, enough to reverse their order in that last-lap fight. Favelle remained a threat, setting the race’s fastest final sector of 29.062s on the last lap. Dunker also trimmed Nahlous’ advantage, but the Yamaha Racing Team rider had already built the buffer he needed.

Allerton finished sixth, almost 15 seconds behind Favelle and 20.940s adrift of the winner. Waters’ DesmoSport race debut ended in seventh, 31.497s behind Nahlous, ahead of Lytras in eighth.

Jones finished ninth, with Morgan McLaren-Wood rounding out a top ten covered by more than a minute.

Roulstone was 11th, followed by Josh Newman, Broc Pearson and Luca Durning.

Hamod retired after five completed laps and Carr after four.

Further down the order, Ghage Plowman received a ten-second penalty for a jumped start, leaving him 25th behind Jay Van Hoof. Both finished one lap down.

Podium Sound Bites

Jonathan Nahlous – First

“Oh, man, I’m at a loss of words, to be honest. Didn’t expect that one going into that.”

Dunker explained that he had caught Nahlous during the middle of the race, but his attempt to turn that pressure into an attack produced a few moments and forced him to regroup.

Cam Dunker – Second

“I tried to change mode and try and just attack and make a little bit of a break and had a few moments, so I kind of regathered my stuff and towards the end of the race just didn’t have enough pace to catch him.

“Massive, massive thanks to our team. They’ve done a great job. Just work a little bit on myself for the next one and we’ll have at it again this afternoon.”

Harrison Voight – Third

“Honestly, I took too long to get going. I felt like I put a decent charge to try and catch up to Cam. Unfortunately, the lappers got a little bit in the way and upset my momentum.

“I’m happy to finish third from where I went back. Honestly, I didn’t really think a third would’ve been achievable, so I’ll take it and I’ll look forward to the next race.”

ASBK Superbike Race One
Phillip Island – Provisional Results

Ghage Plowman received a ten-second penalty for a jumped start.
Results remain provisional until the protest and appeal period has expired.

ASBK Qualifying

Voight edges Dunker by 0.011 as ASBK’s summer era begins

A new calendar, a fresh championship and a familiar name at the top. Harrison Voight opened his Australian Superbike title defence with pole position at Phillip Island on Friday afternoon, but Cam Dunker came within 11 thousandths of giving ASBK’s new summer era a different first headline.

The McMartin Racing Ducati rider’s 1m31.394 edged Dunker’s Blue Marlin Pools Yamaha by just 0.011s, with Glenn Allerton completing the front row. Ducati claimed four of the first six positions, but Dunker had come desperately close to beating the lot of them.

Although the calendar still reads October 2026, this weekend marks the opening round of the 2027 championship. ASBK’s switch to a summer season takes the series through six rounds, with The Bend and One Raceway to follow before Christmas, then Queensland Raceway, a return to Phillip Island alongside WorldSBK, and the March finale at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Starting that new chapter on the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix support program gives the championship a sizeable stage, and a field of 29 qualifiers will have three 11-lap races to begin sorting out the pecking order.

Six thousandths in Q1

The opening 20-minute qualifying session had already demonstrated how little separated the leading contenders. Voight topped Q1 with a 1m32.282, but John Lytras was only 0.006s behind on his first race weekend with Addicted To Track Racing.

Dunker, Mike Jones, Cru Halliday and Jonathan Nahlous completed a top six covered by just 0.121s. Voight needed only one timed lap to secure his place in the 15-minute Q2 shootout.

Further back, Brendan Wilson claimed the final transfer position with a 1m34.430, leaving Broc Pearson just 0.053s short of progressing on his TeamBWR Honda. Pearson consequently heads the fifth row in 13th, ahead of Luca Durning and West Australian Jayden Martin.

Halliday sets the target, Voight answers

Halliday laid down the first serious Q2 marker with a 1m31.764 on the Stop and Seal Ducati. That gave the opposition something substantial to chase, and his time remained unbeaten for more than six minutes.

With a little over five minutes remaining, Voight deposed him with the eventual pole lap of 1m31.394. Halliday then trimmed his best to 1m31.731, but Allerton’s 1m31.706 put the Superbike Advocates Ducati ahead of him by just 0.025s.

Josh Waters subsequently made it a provisional Ducati 1-2-3-4 on his first race weekend with DesmoSport Ducati. The Italian lockout did not last, however, as Dunker split the horde with a 1m31.405 to go second, only 0.011s away from taking pole himself.

Jones also improved late, his 1m32.042 moving the Yamaha Racing Team rider into fifth and pushing Waters back to sixth. That left Halliday heading the second row, with Jones and Waters alongside him. The first four were covered by 0.337s, while eighth-placed Nahlous was still within nine-tenths of pole.

Where those 11 thousandths came from

Comparing the two fastest laps shows just how close Dunker came. Voight was 0.053s quicker through sector one, but Dunker recovered 0.074s in sector two and another 0.135s in sector three. At the third split, the Yamaha rider’s cumulative time was 0.156s better.

Voight’s final sector made the difference. His 28.231s through the last part of the lap was 0.167s faster than Dunker’s, enough to turn that deficit into an advantage of just 0.011s at the line.

The defending champion also backed up his pole lap with a 1m31.621 and a 1m31.478. His final lap was actually 0.043s ahead of his pole schedule after three sectors, before he surrendered 0.127s in the last sector and finished 0.084s short of improving.

Dunker’s best remained his only lap under 1m32s, while Voight finished with three consecutive laps in the 1m31s. Pole was desperately close, but the champion had shown he could repeatedly reach that bracket.

Lytras heads row three, Roulstone has work to do

Lytras could not quite reproduce his Q1 position in the shootout, although he improved his time to 1m32.225 to claim seventh. Nahlous was just 0.044s behind him, with Jack Favelle completing the third row as the leading Honda rider.

Nahlous also supplied an interesting detail in the sector sheets: his 14.770s was the fastest third sector of Q2. There was speed there, even if the complete lap left him eighth.

Jacob Roulstone was spectacular to watch, with no shortage of aggression or commitment, but all that effort translated into tenth on the grid.

His best came on his ninth and final lap, a 1m32.759 that left him only 0.024s behind Favelle. Morgan McLaren-Wood and Wilson complete the fourth row.

Ducati still sharp despite another rev cut

Ducati has lost another 500rpm for the new campaign, with the published homologation list putting both generations of the Panigale V4 R at a 15,000rpm ceiling. That trims the Italian machines’ scope at the top of the rev range, but four Ducatis in the first six positions suggested they remained plenty sharp enough to head into battle.

Halliday still recorded 310km/h in Q2, with Allerton and Waters both reaching 309km/h. Voight’s pole lap, meanwhile, owed its narrow advantage over Dunker to the final sector rather than a commanding speed-trap figure: their session maxima were 306km/h and 305km/h respectively.

The opening 11-lap race is scheduled for 12.10pm on Saturday, October 24, followed by race two at 4.10pm. The third and final contest is scheduled for 9am on Sunday. All times are local to Phillip Island.

ASBK Qualifying Times
Phillip Island

Provisional classification. Positions 1–12 are determined by Q2, with the remaining positions set by Q1. Wilson therefore retains 12th despite Pearson recording a quicker time in Q1.

Robert Wheeler’s 1m43.035 was outside the published qualifying threshold of 1m42.361. Bryce Van Hoof did not record a timed lap in Q1.

ASBK Qualifying Top Speeds vs MotoGP

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